Greg Colson: Difference between revisions
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'''Greg Colson''' (born |
'''Greg Colson''' (born 1956, Seattle) is an American artist best known for works that straddle the line between painting and sculpture, while implying a skepticism towards established concepts of order and efficiency. Using scavenged materials, Colson allows the physicality of his makeshift constructions to intrude on the precise systems he paints or draws upon their surfaces – striking a balance between subject and context, image and support, intention and accident. “Distraction is an important part of my art,” says the artist. “It’s the condition of our lives in the information age, where the trivial and significant are put on an equal footing.” |
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==Biography== |
==Biography== |
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Colson was born in Seattle, Washington and grew up |
Greg Colson was born in Seattle, Washington and grew up in the Oildale section of [[Bakersfield, California]] with his parents and two brothers Doug and Jeff, who is also an artist. His father Lewis Colson was a social worker but also a skilled mechanic and inventive with improvised repairs and adapting materials to new uses, which inspired his son’s appreciation of the ordinary and the rejected. The industrial environment of the Bakersfield/Oildale area, and its accompanying attitudes and outlook, also affected Colson – particularly in its contrast to the large urban/cultural centers he would later inhabit as an artist. |
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Colson received his B.A. from [[California State University, Bakersfield|California State University Bakersfield]] where he studied with George Ketterl, Ted Kerzie, Michael Heivly, and visiting artists J[[John McCracken (artist)|ohn McCracken,]] [[Joe Goode]], [[Edward Ruscha|Ed Ruscha]], [[James Turrell|James Turrel]]<nowiki/>l, and [[Ed Moses (artist)|Ed Moses]]. From 1978-80 he attended [[Claremont Graduate University]], studying with Tom Wudl, [[Michael Brewster (artist)|Michael Brewster]], and [[Roland Reiss]] and earned his M.F.A. During the 1980s he supported himself by working as an apprentice for artists [[Vija Celmins]], Ruscha, and Wudl. In 1987 he had his first solo exhibition with Angles Gallery. Colson works and lives in [[Venice, Los Angeles|Venice, California]] with his wife, writer Dinah Kirgo. |
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==Works== |
==Works== |
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The diagrams and maps that Colson deploys in his art speak to the detached, abstract quality of much human analysis, while smuggling social critique into each work. [[Roberta Smith]], in her [[The New York Times|''The New York Times'']] review, described Colson’s 1990 debut exhibition at [[Sperone Westwater Gallery]]: “In nearly all of Mr. Colson’s works, the combination of modesty and grandiosity, of mental exactness and physical imprecision adds up to an odd, sad beauty. Elliptical as they are, his pieces often seem to scrutinize the conflict between the active center and deserted margins of industrialized society."<ref>{{citation |author=Smith, Roberta |title=These Are the Faces to Watch |date=January 5, 1990 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/01/05/arts/fresh-hot-and-headed-for-fame-these-are-the-faces-to-watch-art.html?scp=2&sq=greg%20colson&st=cse |work=The New York Times |accessdate=June 27, 2009}}</ref> |
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Among Colson’s body of work is a series of ‘Stick Maps’ of cities such as “Cleveland’ (1991), “San Jose” (2001), and “Baton Rouge” (1988). These sculptures are built of found lengths of various materials; ski poles, curtain rods, metal pipe, wood moulding – the structure becoming a metaphor for the manifold influences on a city. In his catalogue essay for the “Mapping” exhibition at the [[Museum of Modern Art|Museum of Modern Ar]]<nowiki/>t, curator [[Robert Storr (art academic)|Robert Storr]] wrote: “The maps of Californian Greg Colson derive their character from the aesthetic convergence of the strip and the scrap. The strip is the dominant axis of the U.S. car-dependent metropolis, and should be used as a collective rather than a singular noun, since the more they mushroom outward, the more intricately our cities are criss-crossed by such matrices. The scrap is the antithesis of the strip: it is an absolutely particular thing, the discard people traveling and consuming at high speed have no further use for. Colson’s ‘Portland’ is an engagingly makeshift template of a streamlined world.” |
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In his constructed ‘Pie Chart’ paintings based on socio-cultural surveys, Colson parodies our obsession with efficiency, data, and analysis – which are typically seen in the sleek, nonmaterial setting of the computer screen. Colson’s pie chart titles have included subjects such as “Workplace Perks” (2004), “Unfriending” (2011), and “Top Concerns of Midterm Voters” (2023). [[Hyperallergic|HYPERALLERGIC]] art critic J[[John Yau|ohn Yau]] characterized Colson’s 2023 exhibition at [[National Arts Club|The National Arts Club]]: “Rendered in a straightforward, documentary style, complete with graphic signs and changing typefaces, Colson’s pie charts can be funny, perverse, and unsettling, all while inducing alternating waves of laughter and despair. Looking at “Leading British Phobias” (2011), viewers learn that a large percentage of the British populace has a phobia about “spiders,” “clowns,” and “needles.” Among the other fears cited, Colson lists “dentistry, driving, and heights.” Taken together, these sound like the key ingredients to an [[Alfred Hitchcock]] film.” |
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Other bodies of work include his ‘Directional’ sculptures, ‘Solar System Models,’ and ‘Aggregate’ paintings. More recently, Colson has designed and created large scale site-specific sculptures and outdoor installations, including “Composite Fence,” “Action and Counteraction,” and “Bern (for Robert Walser).” |
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==Exhibitions== |
==Exhibitions== |
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Greg Colson’s art has been the subject of over 40 solo exhibitions internationally, including [[Sperone Westwater Gallery]] (New York), Craig Krull Gallery (Santa Monica, CA.), [[Konrad Fischer Galerie]] (Dusseldorf), Cardi Gallery (Milan), Gian Enzo Sperone (Rome), Thomas Park Gallery (Seoul), [[Baldwin Gallery]] (Aspen, CO.), [[William Griffin Gallery]] (Los Angeles), [[Kunsthalle Lophem]] (Bruges, Belgium), [[Krannert Art Museum]] (Urbana-Champaign, IL.), and the Lannan Museum (Lake Worth, FL.). |
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Colson has had solo exhibitions throughout the United States and Europe, including Sperone Westwater (New York), [[Patrick Painter|Patrick Painter Inc.]] (Los Angeles), [[Galerie Konrad Fischer]] (Düsseldorf), Gian Enzo Sperone (Rome), Galleria Cardi (Milan), Kunsthalle Lophem (Bruges, Belgium), [[Baldwin Gallery]] (Aspen), [[Krannert Art Museum]] (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign), and the Lannan Museum (Lake Worth, Florida). Colson's work is in many public collections, including the [[Whitney Museum of American Art]] (New York), [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] (New York), [[Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles|Museum of Contemporary Art]] (Los Angeles), [[Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden]] (Washington, D.C.), [[Giuseppe Panza|Panza Collection]] (Varese, Italy), Sammlung Rosenkranz (Berlin), and [[Moderna Museet]] (Stockholm).<ref name="GregColson2006">{{citation|title=Greg Colson: The Architecture of Distraction|publisher=Griffin Editions|year=2006}}</ref> |
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==Selected collections== |
==Selected collections== |
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{{more citations needed|section|date=April 2019}} |
{{more citations needed|section|date=April 2019}} |
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Colson’s work is in collections throughout the United States and Europe, including the [[Whitney Museum|Whitney Museum of American Art]] (New York), [[Museum of Modern Art]] (New York), [[Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden]] (Washington, D.C.), [[Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles|Museum of Contemporary Art]] (Los Angeles), [[Getty Research Institute]] (Los Angeles), [[Los Angeles County Museum of Art]], [[Panza Collection]] (Varese, Italy), Sammlung Rosenkranz (Berlin), and [[Moderna Museet]] (Stockholm). |
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==References== |
==References== |
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Revision as of 23:31, 10 May 2023
 | This article contains promotional content. (September 2018) |
Greg Colson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Greg Colson April 23, 1956 Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Painting, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, photography |
| Movement | Assemblage, conceptual art, arte povera |
Greg Colson (born 1956, Seattle) is an American artist best known for works that straddle the line between painting and sculpture, while implying a skepticism towards established concepts of order and efficiency. Using scavenged materials, Colson allows the physicality of his makeshift constructions to intrude on the precise systems he paints or draws upon their surfaces – striking a balance between subject and context, image and support, intention and accident. “Distraction is an important part of my art,” says the artist. “It’s the condition of our lives in the information age, where the trivial and significant are put on an equal footing.”
Biography
Greg Colson was born in Seattle, Washington and grew up in the Oildale section of Bakersfield, California with his parents and two brothers Doug and Jeff, who is also an artist. His father Lewis Colson was a social worker but also a skilled mechanic and inventive with improvised repairs and adapting materials to new uses, which inspired his son’s appreciation of the ordinary and the rejected. The industrial environment of the Bakersfield/Oildale area, and its accompanying attitudes and outlook, also affected Colson – particularly in its contrast to the large urban/cultural centers he would later inhabit as an artist.
Colson received his B.A. from California State University Bakersfield where he studied with George Ketterl, Ted Kerzie, Michael Heivly, and visiting artists John McCracken, Joe Goode, Ed Ruscha, James Turrell, and Ed Moses. From 1978-80 he attended Claremont Graduate University, studying with Tom Wudl, Michael Brewster, and Roland Reiss and earned his M.F.A. During the 1980s he supported himself by working as an apprentice for artists Vija Celmins, Ruscha, and Wudl. In 1987 he had his first solo exhibition with Angles Gallery. Colson works and lives in Venice, California with his wife, writer Dinah Kirgo.
Works
The diagrams and maps that Colson deploys in his art speak to the detached, abstract quality of much human analysis, while smuggling social critique into each work. Roberta Smith, in her The New York Times review, described Colson’s 1990 debut exhibition at Sperone Westwater Gallery: “In nearly all of Mr. Colson’s works, the combination of modesty and grandiosity, of mental exactness and physical imprecision adds up to an odd, sad beauty. Elliptical as they are, his pieces often seem to scrutinize the conflict between the active center and deserted margins of industrialized society."[1]
Among Colson’s body of work is a series of ‘Stick Maps’ of cities such as “Cleveland’ (1991), “San Jose” (2001), and “Baton Rouge” (1988). These sculptures are built of found lengths of various materials; ski poles, curtain rods, metal pipe, wood moulding – the structure becoming a metaphor for the manifold influences on a city. In his catalogue essay for the “Mapping” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, curator Robert Storr wrote: “The maps of Californian Greg Colson derive their character from the aesthetic convergence of the strip and the scrap. The strip is the dominant axis of the U.S. car-dependent metropolis, and should be used as a collective rather than a singular noun, since the more they mushroom outward, the more intricately our cities are criss-crossed by such matrices. The scrap is the antithesis of the strip: it is an absolutely particular thing, the discard people traveling and consuming at high speed have no further use for. Colson’s ‘Portland’ is an engagingly makeshift template of a streamlined world.”
In his constructed ‘Pie Chart’ paintings based on socio-cultural surveys, Colson parodies our obsession with efficiency, data, and analysis – which are typically seen in the sleek, nonmaterial setting of the computer screen. Colson’s pie chart titles have included subjects such as “Workplace Perks” (2004), “Unfriending” (2011), and “Top Concerns of Midterm Voters” (2023). HYPERALLERGIC art critic John Yau characterized Colson’s 2023 exhibition at The National Arts Club: “Rendered in a straightforward, documentary style, complete with graphic signs and changing typefaces, Colson’s pie charts can be funny, perverse, and unsettling, all while inducing alternating waves of laughter and despair. Looking at “Leading British Phobias” (2011), viewers learn that a large percentage of the British populace has a phobia about “spiders,” “clowns,” and “needles.” Among the other fears cited, Colson lists “dentistry, driving, and heights.” Taken together, these sound like the key ingredients to an Alfred Hitchcock film.”
Other bodies of work include his ‘Directional’ sculptures, ‘Solar System Models,’ and ‘Aggregate’ paintings. More recently, Colson has designed and created large scale site-specific sculptures and outdoor installations, including “Composite Fence,” “Action and Counteraction,” and “Bern (for Robert Walser).”
Exhibitions
Greg Colson’s art has been the subject of over 40 solo exhibitions internationally, including Sperone Westwater Gallery (New York), Craig Krull Gallery (Santa Monica, CA.), Konrad Fischer Galerie (Dusseldorf), Cardi Gallery (Milan), Gian Enzo Sperone (Rome), Thomas Park Gallery (Seoul), Baldwin Gallery (Aspen, CO.), William Griffin Gallery (Los Angeles), Kunsthalle Lophem (Bruges, Belgium), Krannert Art Museum (Urbana-Champaign, IL.), and the Lannan Museum (Lake Worth, FL.).
Selected collections
 | This section needs additional citations for verification. (April 2019) |
Colson’s work is in collections throughout the United States and Europe, including the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), Museum of Modern Art (New York), Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (Washington, D.C.), Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles), Getty Research Institute (Los Angeles), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Panza Collection (Varese, Italy), Sammlung Rosenkranz (Berlin), and Moderna Museet (Stockholm).
References
- ^ Smith, Roberta (January 5, 1990), "These Are the Faces to Watch", The New York Times, retrieved June 27, 2009
Selected bibliography
Monographs
- Greg Colson, Galleria Cardi, Milan. Essay by Robert Evren, 2001
- Greg Colson, Whale and Star Press. Texts by Pontus Hulten and Peter Wegner, 1999
- Greg Colson, Lannan Museum, Lake Worth, FL. Essay by Bonnie Clearwater, 1988
- Greg Colson: The Architecture of Distraction, Griffin Editions, Los Angeles. Interview with Genevieve Devitt, 2006
- Greg Colson: Krannert Art Museum, University of Illinois. Essay by David Pagel, 1996
Selected books and catalogues
- American Bricolage, Sperone Westwater, New York. Todd Alden, David Leiber and Tom Sachs, 2000
- Mapping, Museum of Modern Art, New York. Essay by Robert Storr, 1994
- Panza: The Legacy of a Collector, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Texts by Kenneth Baker, Cornelia H. Butler, Rebecca Morse and Giuseppe Panza, 1999
- Giuseppe Panza: Memories of a Collector, Abbeville Press, New York. By Giuseppe Panza, 2007
- Gian Enzo Sperone: Torino, Roma, New York, Hopefulmonster Editore, Turin. Texts by Anna Minola, Maria Cristina Mundici, Francesco Poli, Maria Teresa Roberto, 2000
- Sammlung Rosenkranz im Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal, Germany. Texts by Sabine Fehlemann, Peter Frank, Pontus Hulten, 2002
Selected articles
- Maartje Den Breejen. "Intentie en Ongeluk-Als het Leven Zelf." Het PAROOL (Amsterdam), September 6, 2002, p. 11
- David Hunt. "Spotlight: Greg Colson." Flash Art, November–December 1998, p. 105
- Ken Johnson. “Greg Colson-review.” The New York Times, February 16, 2001, p. B37
- George Melrod. “Greg Colson at Sperone Westwater.” Art in America, September 1994, p. 112
- Sharon Mizota. "Art review: Greg Colson at Griffin." Los Angeles Times, January 30, 2010
- Sally O'Reilly. "Greg Colson at Sprovieri." Time Out (London), January 16, 2002, p. 48
- Tibby Rothman. “Beyond the Image – Interview with Greg Colson” Venice Paper, October 2006
- John Russell. “Greg Colson-review.” The New York Times, January 12, 1990, p. C27
- Jerry Saltz. "Greg Colson: Liberating Materials From Materiality." Flash Art, May–June 1990, p. 150
- Roberta Smith. “These Are the Faces to Watch.” The New York Times, January 5, 1990, p. C21
External links
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
- 1956 births
- Living people
- American contemporary painters
- 20th-century American painters
- American male painters
- 21st-century American painters
- Postmodern artists
- Painters from California
- Artists from Seattle
- Art in Greater Los Angeles
- Painters from Washington (state)
- Claremont Graduate University alumni
- 20th-century American sculptors
- American male sculptors
- 20th-century American printmakers
- Sculptors from California
- Sculptors from Washington (state)
- 20th-century American male artists